Golf tee



Feb. 20, 1934. DALGLISH 1,947,674

GOLF TEE Filed Oct. 13, 1932 Patented Feb. 20,

UNiTEfi STATES PATENT. OFFICE Application October 13, 1932, Serial No. 637,635, and in Great Britain October 21, 1931 2 Claims. (Cl. 273-33) My invention relates to golf tees which are jointed so that when the ball is struck by the player there is no resistance to the driving of the ball and no tendency for the tee to be driven out of the ground.

According to this invention the golf tee comprises a head part or tee proper on which the ball is placed and a stem for insertion in the ground the stem consisting of a wire which is threaded through a hole in the head part and bent double and twisted to a helical or screw like formation, in this manner the head part is so jointed to the stem that it can, when the ball is struck, turn through a vertical are relatively to the stem which latter remains in position in the ground. The head part may be made of bone, celluloid, composition, metal, or any other suitable material and the stern of rustless steel wire or other suitable wire.

In order that the invention may be properly understood and readily carried into effect, I have hereunto appended a sheet of drawing, of which Figure 1 is a front elevation of a golf tee made in accordance with my invention.

Figure 2 is a side elevation of the tee, Figure 1, showing, in dotted lines, the position of the head of the tee after the ball has been struck by a player.

Referring to the drawing, A is the stem which is formed of a piece of rustless steel wire or other suitable wire which is threaded through the hole B in the tee head C, and then doubled and twisted so as to form a coiled or twisted screw like stem. The stem, owing to the twisted limbs of the wire is very rigid and can be pushed firmly into the ground while the head C can turn on the bent part D of the wire, like a hinge.

The extreme ends of the wire limbs may be soldered or otherwise secured together and pointed.

In use, the stem A is caused to penetrate into the ground up to the joint of the tee, thus enabling the head of the tee C, on which the ball rests, to turn as shown in dotted lines Figure 2, through a vertical are when the ball is struck, and offer no resistance to the driving of the ball. It will be noted that that portion of the tee head C below the hole 13 is formed as a coneshaped point, permitting the tee head to be readily forced into the ground and further serving to positively position the head upright and prevent possibility of wabbling of the head under the weight of the ball in any direction; and that the loop at the upper end of the stem conforms in shape to the conical shape of the end of the tee head which, by reason of the shape, facilitates the pressing of the anchor into the ground to the point at which the conical point of the tee head will enter the ground to maintain the tee head upright. Thus the center of the ball support, the conical point of the head, and the twisted portion of the stem are in axial alignment. Therefore, the introduction of the single stem into the ground defines the point and provides for the following entrance of the pointed end of the tee body into the ground surface, because as the point of this end is in alignment with the twisted portion of the stem, the stem will naturally provide an opening into which the pointed end of the tee head will enter to thus not only support the tee head in the upright position, but insure that the tee head will enter into the ground no matter how hard it may be, if it is at all possible to force the stem into the ground. Furthermore, the conical portion of the loop of the stem serves to steady the tee head against possibility of movement in one direction following, of course, the entry of the pointed end of the tee head into the hole formed by the stem.

I am aware that it has been heretofore proposed to provide a tee head swingingly supported on the upper end of the U-shaped anchor, the spaced legs of which are adapted to be forced into the ground, and the lower end of the tee head is formed with a semi-circular formation having a broad edge and diverging from this edge in one direction only. This particular type of golf tee is difficult to force into the ground by reason of the spaced legs of the anchor and the fact that the tee head itself must make its own way into the ground surface in order that the head may be supported. Furthermore, in this particular type of tee the rounded formation of the ground engaging end of the tee head does not tend to support the tee in an upright position against casual wabbling in any direction, that is to say, does not center the tee with respect to the anchor while maintaining the tee upright.

The details of the single strand anchor which, when forced into the ground, forms an opening into which the true conical end of the tee head may be readily inserted and forced, with such conical and thus serving to prevent casual Wabbling of the tee head in any direction and at the same time maintain it upright, present material advantages, particularly over the structure above acknowledged to be previously known.

It is to be understood that, although I have shown, by way of example, one form of joint attachment of the twisted stem to the head or top of the tee, there are other equivalent forms of joint which would come within the scope of the invention.

A golf tee made as hereinbefore described has the advantage of being easily manufactured and of being very durable. The twisted stem not only gives rigidity thereto but enables the tee to be firmly anchored in the ground so that when the ball is struck it will not be driven away and lost.

I claim:-

1. A tee head formed with a transverse opening near its lower end, the end, of the head below the opening being of conical formation, and an anchor passed through the opening in the head and projected below the head as a single stem in axial alignment with the conical point of the tee head whereby on introducing the anchor into the ground surface an opening is formed into which the conical point of the head may be readily forced to maintain the tee head upright in line with the stem and against casual wabbling.

2. A golf tee comprising a head having a coneshaped point at its lower end adapted to come into engagement with the ground so that the head is positively positioned upright thereon, said head having a transverse passage near the lower end of the head but above the cone-shaped point thereof, a stem formed of metal wire passed through said passage, thereby pivotally connecting the head and the stem, the two ends of said wire being brought together so as to .form a loop around said cone-shaped point and being twisted together, thereby providing a substantially rigid stem adapted to be entered into the ground to anchor the head, the sides of said loop being convergently shaped in a downward direction In order to facilitate entry of the loop into the ground and engagement of the cone-shaped point of the head with the same.

WALTER DALGLISH. 

